mae-mae-me

what up, I’m mae, I’m no longer 19 and I never fucking learned how to read | SHE/HER | AO3 FANATIC https://archiveofourown.org/users/maya_223

[mae-mae-me]

INTRODUCTION AND MASTERPOST

SIDE BLOGS: @curious-minds-verse

Hi! I'm Mae, a long-time lurker, and occasional poster. I mainly post in the DPXDC community, but am active in the DCU, DP, Spider-Man, Miraculous Ladybug, Percy Jackson, Epic the Musical and Harry Potter fandoms (as well as some more that I'm pretty sure I forgot).

I have a discord server for my fics, and you can find that here!

[MULTIPOSTS]

[Phantom & Fent—wait, that's a Wayne!]

[Kingmaker]

[CURIOUS MINDS]

[ONE SHOTS]

[A haunting image]

[Jazz & Darkseid]

[Billy telling the truth]

[It's a nice day]

[PROMPTS]

[Maddie & Talia]

[Historical DP, Modern DC]

[digitalkiddo]

If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.

[hamletthedane]

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

[hamletthedane]

Want to learn something new in 2023??

Cooking with flavor bootcamp (used what I learned in this a LOT this year)

Beekeeping 101

Learn Interior Design from the British Academy of Interior Design (free to audit course - just choose the free option when you register)

Video on learning to read music that actually helped me??

How to use and sew with a sewing machine

How to ride a bike (listen. some of us never learned, and that's okay.)

How to cornrow-braid hair (I have it on good authority that this video is a godsend for doing your baby niece's black hair)

Making mead at home (I actually did this last summer and it was SO good)

How to garden

Basics of snowboarding (proceed with caution)

How to draw for people who (think they) suck at art (I know this website looks like a 2003 monstrosity, but the tutorials are excellent)

Pixel art for beginners so you can make the next great indie game

Go (back) to school

Introduction to Astronomy (high school course - free textbook w/ practice problems)

Principals of Economics (high school course - free textbook w/ practice problems)

Introduction to philosophy (free college course)

Computer science basics (full-semester Harvard course free online)

Learn a language

Japanese for Dummies (link fix from 2022)

Ukrainian

Portuguese (Brazil)

American Sign Language (as somebody who works with Deaf people professionally, I also strongly advise you to read up on Deaf/HoH culture and history!)

Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified)

Quenya (LOTR fantasy elf language)

[hamletthedane]

Want to learn something new in 2024??

Beginner-oriented video on how to sail

This guy has so many videos on baking different types of bread. SO very many.

Coding in Python - one of the most flexible and adaptable high-level programming languages out there - explained through projects making video games

Learn to swim! (for adult learners. I don’t care if you live in Kansas or Mali or wherever. LEARN TO SWIM.)

Learn how quantum mechanics works. Then read some more about it

[Learn about quantum mechanics again, but in a more advanced engineering/mathematics class. Then read more about the math and physics of it]

Poetry Handbook, by Mary Oliver

Something I learned this year: how to sew a quilt (Here’s a very easy beginning pattern that looks amazing and can be done with pre-cut fabric!)

How to hit the ball in softball

Tutorial video on what is under the hood of most (gas) cars + weird engine sounds and what they mean

Full beginner mechanics technical training, if you want to go more in depth

Playlist on how car engine physics work if you want to go ultra in depth

Lecture series on architecture design through study of buildings

How (American income) taxes & tax law work (choose “audit course” at checkout for free class)

Pickleball for beginners (so you can finally join your neighbor/friend/distant cousin who is always insisting you join their team)

+ Para-Pickleball for beginners (for mobility aid users!)

School is so much more fun when there’s no tests:

American Law - Contracts

Shakespeare’s Life and Plays

Fairy Tales: Meanings, Messages, and Morals

Modern Poetry

World History [Part 1, Part 2]

Learn a language:

Arabic + Resource Guide compiled from Reddit (includes info on different dialects)

Chinese (Cantonese) (audio)

Urdu (frequently recommended course on Reddit) + Resource Guide

Yucatec Maya

[yourfoodiedesires]

How Often To Clean Your House (aka Being An Adult)

Sprinkles And Crafts: A Food, DIY And Lifestyle Blog.

[ayaarts]

he's just a little boy :(

(Muslim damian wayne my beloved)

.

the full section at the first part is : [... whoever takes a life—unless as a punishment for murder or mischief in the land—it will be as if they killed all of humanity; and whoever saves a life, it will be as if they saved all of humanity...]- Surah Al-Ma’idah, 5:32

[nikiexe0]

Asjbwkwuhg i love this verse 🤌

Also, muslim Damian is so frickin precious <3

(I don't think Talia is tho, she doesn't strike me as the type to embrace islam (?) If that makes sense)

MY opinion tho

[ayaarts]

@nikiexe0 oh yes I agree! I think damian would revert as he gets older. just seems like something he'd do (to me)

[podkeeper]

Posting the flowchart I followed years ago at the beginning of my career lol The Magnus Archives was my first podcast and did irreparable damage to my worldview about fiction audiodramas

[stolos]

My TMA S1 lineup as promised. Wormed vers below the cut! (please click for better quality)

Unfortunately I’m not as happy with these as I would’ve liked, but it gets my designs across alright.😭

[papayafromtv]

conversations overheard through the batkid com lines pt 41 (masterpost here)

*fighting noises, grunts and the shwing of metal*

Tim: so me and Robin cleared out our section; want us to head over to you two?

Dick: *harsh impact* *slight chuckle* uh, i don't think this'll take us too long, you guys are good to wait.

Bruce: they're not overly prepared for an attack, that's for sure.

Dick: man, you know you're shit when Batman starts taking the mick mid-fight, *gunshot* oi-!

Damian: so we're just waiting?

Dick: yeah, take a break, Triple-R!

Damian, mumbling: stupid fucking nickname.

Tim: yeah shut up Dick,

Bruce, tired: just because it aligns with an insult doesn't mean you can disregard the no-name rule with Nightwing.

Tim: *snort*

Dick: B, sniper on the balcony- *gunshot* ok never mind he's a shit shot you're good.

Damian: Red, we can do the thing.

Tim: oh- holy fuck you're right,

Damian: you- *already sounding amused* you first.

Tim: ok well don't laugh yet, i haven't even... *trails off*

*fabric shuffling*

Dick, slightly breathless: wait, what are you two doing?

Tim: shut up, we're playing a game. you said take a break.

*thud* *hiss of sympathy*

Bruce: boys, please, we can't keep playing games on patrol-,

Dick: -yeah B might cry.

Bruce: i will not- i'm not going to cry??? just-

Dick: 'sounds close to tears. what are you playing?

Bruce, hissing: Nightwing,

Dick, innocently: hm?

Tim: ok, i'm ready. turn around.

*a beat of silence*

Damian, sounding slightly confused: *garbled, muffled by water* mf 'us a 'ox. wh- *abrupt choke*

Tim: yeah so this is- *snicker* this is my whole thing, this is what i uh, brought...

Damian: *sharp nose exhale*

Tim: he doesn't know i have it.

Damian: *water splatter* *cough*

Tim: HA! YOU LAUGHED!

Damian: *coughing* i did- not laugh, there's a difference.

Tim, incredulous: i HEARD you!

Damian: no no, i spat out my water. there's nothing against that in the rules.

Tim: that's the whole point,

Damian: i didn't laugh, i coughed.

Tim: oh- *indignant* bullshit, you laughed you liar.

Dick: the hell are you two doing? Red??

Tim: it's just a stupid game we thought might be fun where we both sneak the most obscure items we can onto patrol. if you laugh you lose, which you did-

Damian: i'm not gonna laugh at the kettle Pennyworth got imported from London, Drake. don't be a sore loser.

Dick: you brought- how the fuck did you keep that hidden?

Tim: shut up Damian. just do yours, you won't beat me.

Damian, apathetic: uh-huh. drink then, coward.

Dick: well now i kinda wanna know what Robin has...

Bruce, teeth gritted: Nightwing, please focus.

*silence*

Damian: open your eyes.

Tim: *instant water spitting* *choking*

Damian: you fucking- you spat on me you ass,

Tim: *high-pitched* what the- WHAT THE FUCK- *delirious shocked laughter*

Damian: fucking- 'm all wet now,

Tim: *still laughing* holy mother of hell,

Damian: i win, bitch.

Tim: I'M GOING TO- *incredulous* ROBIN!?

Damian: yeah... um. but then i also didn't want to play favourites, so...

*fabric shuffling*

Tim: OH MY- *instant wheeze*

Dick: ok seriously what is going on over there? Red sounds like he's going through anaphylactic shock.

Tim: *audibly struggling to breath*

Damian, calmly: no it's fine.

Tim, through tears: how did you- how did you even decide this was an option...?!

Damian: i play to win.

*distant thomp of boots on concrete*

Jason, distant, through Tim and Damian's coms: hey kiddies, am i late to the party?

Jason, voice dropping three octaves: ok what the fuck is that.

Tim, panting: read the- *wheeze* read the engraving,

Jason: oh. my. god.

Jason: DAMIAN. DAMI- HOLY- *chokes* oh my- WHY DID YOU-

*ping*

Jason, clearer: Bruce come get your son, Bruce come- *wheezes* *through cackles* COME AND GET YOUR SON,

Bruce: ok what on earth is going on up there?

Jason: he's got- *high pitched, delirious* i don't understand- Damian why?

Tim, also crying from laughter: we were playing a game,

Jason: WHAT FUCKING GAME-

Bruce: RED HOOD. I NEED DETAILS.

Jason: he's got- oh my fuck- he's got your parents.

*silence, apart from Jason and Tim's breathy cackles*

Dick: wait what-? i don't understand.

Jason: the ashes- he's got the- he brought Thomas and Martha's ashes on patrol.

Dick: W H A T?

Bruce: ...excuse me?

Jason: *cackles* oh fuck- oh fuck my side hurts,

Tim: *sniffs* i think i cracked a rib.

Bruce: Robin. what are they talking about?

Damian, sombre: i'm sorry father. i thought the family reunion might boost morale.

Bruce: WHAT.

Tim, amidst desperate attempts at breath control: what were you gonna do if you dropped one?

Damian: i mean, ash is not hard to come by. i doubt father would notice.

Bruce: ROBIN LEAVE THEM ALONE, YOU ARE TAKING THEM BACK TO THE MANOR THIS INSTANT.

Damian: hold- hold on father, i hear the ashes whispering to me.

*a beat*

Damian: they want to know why you dropped out of medical school.

Tim and Jason: *loose their collective shit*

[doveywovy]

no matter how hard i try, nothing i write will ever be as fucked up as the stuff somebody who thinks they're creating a Wholesome AU with unexamined beliefs will make.

[jerboaoa]

couldn't leave this in the tags

[ceaseless-tosser]

One of the most disturbing dead dove experiencesive ever had was about a no-powers slice of life 'divorced jmart get back together' fics where tim, sasha, and georgie were such catastrophically abusive twats that i wouldnt have blamed jon for killing martin if thats how his only friend group treats him

[mae-mae-me]

ok but @ceaseless-tosser i. lowkey want that fic

[shorm]

HOGWARTS SCHEDULE MASTERPOST because I haven’t done one of these yet (and because nerinelunacyran asked for one)!

First row is pretty explanatory (Years 1 and 2, look at the captions.) Third year on each take up a row, because they need two schedules to deal with the electives. The only way for the electives to make sense is for ‘elective’ to just be a slot in their timetable, and because each house shares a timeslot with another house, and both have two options, during every timeslot there are four elective options (so Monday period 3 of year 4, both Gryffindors and Slytherins can choose between Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy, Divination, or Ancient Runes). This way, a student from any house can take any combination of two electives. It’s complicated, but it works. Hermione Granger is special and kind of fucked up.

This fits in with canon as much as I was able to make it fit with canon; she did not give this a second of thought, and it’s painfully obvious if you actually look into it. Fifth year Gryffindors have a class that starts halfway through second period, for crying out loud that’s what periods are for. So there’s some artistic license that I’ve had to take, and of course filling in all the blanks was entirely just myself. I tried to keep the fictional students in mind and not give them awful schedules, too — I have spreadsheets for each house for each year, as well, to see what the kids would groan about in September. I gave the first-years four periods instead of five, because 3:30 is explicitly stated for their flying lessons, and during one Oliver Wood is still in class.

As far as how the teachers’ schedules work out or how Years 6 and 7 work or how this makes any sense at all: it really doesn’t, but I’m working with what I’ve got :P

This was created for the Pottermorphs AU, but feel free to use these schedules for whatever you want — I’d love a link back to this post, though, since I hope it’s obvious just how much work went into these.

[tweakerwolf]

SO CLOSE!!! I needed year six…although, even if I had it, it totally would have f*cked up my time line hahahahaha Although I am very happy someone took the time to do all of this! Thank you!!! I may use this if I start another fic that takes place when the students are younger =)

[ratbreadd]

go watch (and read) project hail mary right now. this instant. go go go . go. go.

[snuffysbox]

grace rocky save stars

[hospesi]

For the past couple of months, I've read so many Peter Parker in Gotham fics that I can't tell them apart anymore. Whenever I get an update notification, I sit there trying to figure out which one this was. Doesn't help that the subgenre has so many established common beats.

For my own sake and sanity, this is a list of some that do stand out, that either break the mould or use it well enough to be memorable anyway. These are the updates I crave.

And When You Fall by @blackbellabu Peter in Gotham, but arrives together with a strange little girl he's never seen before.

Die a Little Sweeter by @forestofbabel Throws the mould out the window entirely. Peter keeps visiting Gotham at different stages of his life.

Existential Crisis Mode by @luciaintheskyainthi Everyone knows this one, right? No transition via snap, or pit, or universal erasure spell, which stands out right from the start.

Home Sweet Home by @queenisdemilo This one hits a lot of the tropes, but it does it so well, and has me on the edge of my seat.

The Mime of Gotham City by @lemongrovesandcloves Peter lands in the hands of the Joker instead of the bats. Longing for the next chapter to this one!

Phantom Liberty by @kpeccati Skips the orientation, and is set when Batman is just starting his career.

Stuck in a Web by AislinnHeart The bats are hilariously incompetent when it comes to being reassuring and trustworthy.

The Unsteady Retirement of One Mr Peter Benjamin Parker by aestorian Peter has had it with hero work and just wants to be Peter Parker, but keeps being bugged by bats.

[ciricearts]

i love drawing him sleeping

[mae-mae-me]

i am so into SI fics. give me them. let me gobble em up

[mae-mae-me]

i have a visceral fear of losing my teeth. if i write a SI-OC into the DCU, they would also have this fear. which would mean that this is reason no.1 (and tbh the only one) why they’re not a vigilante.

[redstonedust]

pet peeve is when you look up fashion references from a specific era and you keep getting modern day '[era]-inspired' fashion like NO i want authenticity damn it. i can see your 2020 photo quality and your 2020 hair and your 2020 makeup. youre not fooling me.

[bincliff]

hello i'm a historical fashion researcher and i have a lot of experience looking up things! this is a very widely experienced irritation and you're definitely not alone in this, but i am here to share everything i know!

so, ways to get around this:

turn off AI results. they're literally nonsense to us

don't use pinterest because the sources/provenance is often hard to trace

a standard internet search can be okay, but museum collections are the top tier (list of collections below this list)

instead of broad terms like victorian, regency, tudor, renaissance etc. try using the decade you're looking for. if you're not sure of what decade it is but have a vague image in your head, look on the fashion history timeline and just jump around until you find it. but even changing to e.g. 19th century will give better results than victorian

including terms like womenswear/menswear, daywear, formal wear, evening wear, court dress should increase the value of your search too

including "fashion plates" in your search can give you a nice impression of the intended silhouettes of the era. some of these might be a little stylised but will show you what was considered in vogue

for pre-fashion plate eras or things like makeup and styling, you'll have to look at portraiture or manuscripts. these are harder to actually find what you're looking for, but searching museum collections and limiting results to specific date ranges will be your friend

when looking at art, do bear in mind sometimes artists would paint fabric extra flow-y to show off their skills. it might not have been exactly like that in terms of fabric weight or drape. so, a pinch of salt required!

if you find something on image search where the provenance is dubious, reverse image search and you might find a source! i've been able to trace random pinterest images to real sources, but this does take a lot of time and effort and is often not worth the headache

some online resources and museum collections:

fashion history timeline is an invaluable resource if you're trying to get a feel for everything and should be your first port of call. it'll also link to good examples

the met has a vast number of extant examples of clothing, as well as fashion plates

costume institute fashion plates is a subcollection of the met for fashion plates (1800s-1922)

v&a also has many extant garments, fashion plates, and incredible articles on clothing and aesthetics. read the details of the objects because they'll often reveal a lot about the piece

lacma is good for C19th-20th pieces

nypl digital collection for photographs

national portrait gallery or similar for portraiture, or literally any museum in your country that has historical art

national museums scotland can be useful situationally but might be oddly specific

stout style history is a great collection for finding image references for fat people wearing historical clothes. survival bias of a lot of museum pieces tends towards smaller clothing that couldn't be repurposed, but this aims to counter that. it's not sortable, but is still a really nice resource

wikimedia commons is surprisingly handy! and the images, if you should need to link/repost them, are public domain

auction websites sound like a funny one to recommend. some won't have mannequins and some will. just look up historical garment auctions and you'll find some!

anyway, i hope this has been a good place to start for anyone interested! there are probably some i've missed because there are so many museums across the world and i don't know about all of them or can't remember them. but these are the ones i've used the most! (my specialisation/jobs i've had to research for have only really been in western fashion, so my resources reflect that)

[haemey]

Wikipedia has a list of fashion museums. Unfortunately, the page itself is only available in German, but the introductory paragraph is very short and after that, it's organised by country, and then it's a simple list. If you click on a museum's article, the website is usually linked in the overview table.